Open-source analysis and visualization of medication adherence from electronic healthcare data

Alexandra, while working on adherence to treatment in various contexts (chronic pain during her PhD between 2005-2009 at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a Postdoc between 2009-2011 at the University of Southampton, UK, and asthma as a Postdoc at the University of Wageningen in 2012 and then at the University of Amsterdam between 2012-2017, both The Netherlands), grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of clarity and standardization of the various definitions and computations of adherence used in the literature.

So, she decided that she can do better and, together with Dan (a computer scientist and linguist with extensive experience in statistical programming in R), she started (around the summer of 2015) working on bits of R code that would implement in a clear and open manner several definitions found in the literature (some based on preexisting publications, others new). Those bits of R code, developed during evenings, weekends and other “spare” time, turned into an R package released together with the PLoS ONE paper in 2017.

Less than a year later, Alexandra (who moved in April 2017 to Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France, with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship) and Dan (at the time still at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, The Netherlands) were approached by Samuel, a pharmacist trained at the University of Basel, Switzerland, who, with the support of a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation, wanted to move to Lyon and work with them on developing AdhereR. Samuel’s application was successful, and he moved to Lyon in January 2018. Dan also moved to Lyon in October 2017 with an EURIAS Fellowship with the Collegium de Lyon.

Between 2018 and 2021, AdhereR was part of a larger IDEXLyon Fellowship from the Université de Lyon, called “Variation, Change and Complexity in Linguistic and Health-related Behaviours” jointly hosted by the Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage (DDL), Université Lumière Lyon 2 and the Health Services and Performance Research Laboratory (HESPER), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

Since 2022, AdhereR continues to be developed in Barcelona, Spain, as part of Alexandra‘s Senior Researcher role with the PRISMA team at the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute and Dan‘s ICREA Research Professorship with the University of Barcelona. Samuel continues to contribute to the project in his role as Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Care at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Basel.

We continue developing AdhereR through several collaborations with other research groups and healthcare organisations. If you are interested in using AdhereR in your research project or in contributing to the development, do get in touch!